Possible to replace the entire extended cab?

Just saw my truck on lift where tech pointed out that all inner rockers, floor panels, and mounts are rotting out! Is it possible to replace the entire extended cab? or do I finally have to bid my Toyota Farewell? Just spent 2 grand last summer on frame repairs! I could salvage my doors but that's about all that could be saved from the cab. I will either repair and hang onto it, or with regret, advertise it for others to enjoy Haven't found anyone in New England that has an entire cab worthy of transplanting. Any suggestions for finding one are appreciated. Thanks.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld
Sorry for your loss

 

There's a few folks on here who have done it. It's a good amount of work, but certainly doable.

 

There is a guy in Sanbornville NH that has all of the first gen tacomas in New England. All jokes aside he does have a bunch of tacomas and 4Runners from what I can tell. If I were in your position I’d hit him up for a clean cab.

He has a bunch of ads on Facebook. Here is one Id have to dig, but I remember there being a red extra cab for 2k. Looked real clean but the frame was split in half

 

Swap cabs? I see guy on marketplace parting out these trucks fairly often.

 

Is it fully insured with comprehensive coverage?

 

Possible? Absolutely. But if you're going to pay someone to do this, it's going to be dozens and dozens of billable hours. This is not a cheap endeavor, unless you do it youself.

 

Rust is not a covered loss. Cab swaps are doable, body shops do frame swaps all the time and a good body tech can get it done in two days or less. A lift really does make it much easier. With the time and cost of the replacement cab it might just be better to sell it and find a clean replacement truck.

 

With that much body rust, I'm betting that's not the only rust on your truck.

Usually, it's the frame that rusts out first, at least judging by the number of rusted frames with near perfect bodies I've seen, so I'd be especially concerned about that, too.

So yes, body swaps or panel replacements are absolutely doable. But just be prepared to get half way into the project and find out it's FUBAR.

 

A unfortunate accident might be.

 

How much work can you do?? Paying Labor this will get real expensive.

You might need to go pretty far south to find a new cab.

It would be possible to build a whole new floor pan and weld it to what you have .

I did quite a Few Ford and Chevy 4x4`s over the years The cabs rusted the frames lasted for ever.

Good Luck.

 

As a very last resort, you could get a salvage 1st gen with a good cab from Coparts. I say last resort because it is expensive. Lots of hidden costs. Cheaper to find one at a salvage yard, but my experience is they are hard to find, and usually all parted out, if you do find one.
It is possible to build a gantry out of lumber you can buy at Lowes, if you have space and are inclined. If you are forced to abandon this one due to rot, hunt your next one from a non rustbelt state.
Good luck to you in your quest.

 

If you know someone with a tractor or excavator ect. Some sort of lifting equipment. Or even a large tree and a chain hoist. You can swap out the cab relatively easily. The hard part is pulling the dash apart and then getting it back together. And finding a cab would be difficult with the price of tacos now a days.

 

Buddy you posted this at the right time. I just finished my cab swap. I have a 1998 2.7 4 cyl. Im going to start a thread on it because its turned into an entire build but feel free to DM me with any questions. Ill be posting a full write up sometime over the next couple weeks but ill give you a few teaser pics and link it when i post.

 

Pulling the dash/interior is the easy part (I've pulled many dashes when I worked at Lexus). I think the difficult part would be how to lift/support the cab after unbolting it from the frame.